Skewering the Holidays Onstage

The Christmas season sends a lot of people around the bend. At least a few theater companies go right along with them every year.

The stock of non- to actively anti- traditional Christmas shows looks rich this year. Here are some choices for weary shoppers:

-- Affirmative! Action! Adventure!: Guess who's coming to Christmas dinner at action film director John Woo's house? The bullets and potstickers fly when a black man walks in the door, in this collaboration by 18 Mighty Mountain Warriors and Campo Santo. Through December 21 at Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia St., San Francisco. Tickets: $9-$14. Call (415) 626-3311.

-- Bill and Chuck and Scrooge: Gay polymath Danny Scheie wrote, staged and stars as a wigged-out regional theater director in this assault on "A Christmas Carol" and other sacred cultural cows, including Shakespeare. Through Sunday at the Marsh, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. Tickets: $10-$15. Call (415) 826-5750.

-- The Weber Family Christmas: Except for patriarch John X Heart, the cast is new for this return visit by a deeply dysfunctional clan that loves to interact with the audience. Through December 23 at the Magic Theatre, Fort Mason, San Francisco. Tickets: $21.50-$36.50. Call (415) 441-8822.

-- A Karen Carpenter Christmas: Hold the black humor about anorexia. Tom Ross and Morey Goldstein's piece, back after a three-year break, is a more-than-half-serious homage to the '70s pop music idol. December 22-30 at the Marsh, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. Tickets: $15-$17. Call (415) 826-5750.

-- Chaps! A Christmas Cowboy Cabaret: Some stuffed-shirt Brits loosen up in Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner's comedy set in a BBC studio in 1944. Through January 17 at the Stage, 490 S. First St., San Jose. Tickets: $16-$22. Call (408) 283-7142.

-- And to All a Good Night: A pair of thieves get into the gifts on Christmas Eve in Buck Busfield's slapstick comedy. Through Saturday at City Lights Theater, 529 S. Second St., San Jose. Tickets: $12- $15. Call (408) 295-4200.